PVHS baseball splits preseason finale vs. 5A Palo Verde, eager for opening day — PHOTOS
Last Saturday morning at 8 a.m., the Pahrump Valley High School baseball winter program hit the diamond for the last time this preseason at the Las Vegas Sports Complex.
The Trojans split a doubleheader scrimmage against a mix of JV and varsity players from 5A powerhouse Palo Verde High School, winning game one 13-5 before falling 10-6 in the finale.
“It’s an exciting time. No more fall ball. No more Aztec stuff. It’s time to put on the PVHS gear and play games that truly matter,” Trojans head coach Drew Middleton said. “Our guys are chomping at the bit to get after it. We will be ready for opening day February 26th.”
The team looked strong offensively early as Jacob Selbach launched a bases-clearing double to right center in game one.
The hit parade continued as the Trojans were patient in the count and weren’t jumping for weak contact, resulting in strong line drives and deep shots from Cody Fried and Kayne Horibe that nearly cleared the left field walls.
Pitchers Tony Whitney, Samuel Mendoza and Fried all turned in strong outings through a couple of innings of work in the opening bout.
The Pahrump Valley Times caught up with Drew Middleton, first-year head coach of the Trojans baseball program.
Q: How did the fall’s new Pahrump Valley Aztecs program go for you?
Middleton: The fall was more challenging than most fall seasons due to how many schools are missing fields because of the turf project CCSD is still doing. Originally, I wanted to play 25-ish games between September to February first. We played 14 but still a good chunk of live game opportunities for our guys to get better. Playing fall games is crucial for a few reasons.
1. With me bringing in a whole new complex system, it gives us opportunities to run this stuff in games and learn as we go and be ready for opening day, rather than wait until opening day and learn as the season goes on.
2. It also helps me implement the “always competing” mantra I preach every day in practice. Nothing is given in my program, you have to earn your spot and earn your role. So guys who played at an extremely high level this fall have put themselves into positions to have a bigger role than maybe they would have had with just practices leading up to the season.
Q: The bats are looking strong with lots of depth. How are you feeling after this weekend about your offense?
Middleton: One thing I’ve learned is we’re going to have a lineup that can hit. Against Palo Verde Saturday we put up 24 hits, eight extra base hits, 20 runs, 14 walks or hit by pitches in 10 offensive innings. Which is absurd. I have about 13 guys I know can step up and get a hit at any time. Plus we have 4-5 guys that can play 3-4 different positions. When you have that kind of flexibility and versatility, it makes things a lot of fun as a coach. We can attack opposing teams multiple different ways, which is exciting.
Defensively, I think we will be fine. But we have found out the hard way if you boot the ball early in innings it can snowball.
In the Palo Verde games, they had three innings where they scored three or more runs in an inning. All three of those innings started with an error. If we take care of the baseball, we will be just fine.
Q: Earlier this year you mentioned pitching may be a question mark. Is that still the case in your opinion after this weekend?
Middleton: Pitching is still inconsistent that I hope irons out as we go along. Pitchers have a lot on their plate as they are learning our new pick system, but we still have to pitch our game consistently and attack the zone. We have a few guys that I know what I’m getting from them and I can lean on them.
I have a handful of guys that have really high ceilings, could be game-changers, but we’re still fine-tuning mechanics and trying to be consistently in the zone. I tell them all the time, I don’t care how fast you throw ball four. For me to trust you on the mound you have to be able to command the zone, and run our pick game. So it’s a process. But I’m confident we will be fine as things play out in the season.
Contact Jacob Powers at jpowers@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jaypowers__ on X.
